Quick Catch Up

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE TROEDEL TRIBE
I had been waiting to post until I had time to put pictures on too, but if I do that you may just be waiting FOREVER! Here is a little of what has been going on:
On December 9th we celebrated Micah's 3 year Famiversary! I can not believe that it has been 3 years since my baby boy was placed in my arms FOREVER! He is growing into an amazing little man and is SO smart, too smart for his own good sometimes :).
Delson is doing GREAT in school. I am so happy that we moved him to a smaller, private school. It was the BEST decision we ever made, the difference is like day and night. He was in a Christmas program for school this week and was a wise man. He did great and was the kid singing SUPER loud without really knowing all the words :)
Sitota just finished with her first semester of ballet. She is taking it at a local church and has really liked it. She continues to LOVE reading and also drawing. She is busy practicing for a musical she is going to be in at the end of January:)
Scott and I have been busy preparing for our mission trip to Haiti, we will leave the day after Christmas and will return on New Years Eve. I can not wait to see what God has in store for us and who he has already chosen to cross our path.
I pray everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!! - Melissa

A bit of Christmas Thanks

Today we decorated the house for Christmas and the kids were SO excited to help. The moment that really stands out for me is when the kids placed their special ornaments on the tree that represent their birth families. As they placed their ornament on the tree each child took the time to say a little prayer for their families.
Micah has an angel that he chose to represent his birth mom and said that he was thankful she had him and prayed that she is safe. Though we do not know her name, she did such a loving thing when she gave him over to the police as a newborn as she could not care for him but did wanted him safe.
Delson has an ornament that was handmade in Haiti and asked God to keep his Haitian mommy, Verigne safe(his Haitian daddy, Pierre,is no longer here on earth).
Sitota has a cross that she chose to remember her family. She thanked God for her Ethiopian mommy and daddy, Worke and Wolde, whom are no longer with us on earth and prayed that God keep Tariku and her other brothers and sisters in Ethiopia safe. , and the precious young lady who was loving enough to bring her newborn baby boy to the police so she knew he would be safe. I am so Thankful for all they gave up so we can have our family.
We are so thankful to all of those listed here for the blessings they have given us.

Perfect Match

Had a funny (and interesting) conversation with Micah the other day after we had read a book about adoption. The book referred to how God had found us both and matched us. Here is how our talk at lunch a few days later went:

Micah: Mom, I don't think God is really good at matching.
Me: What are you talking about honey?
Micah: Remember how we read a book and you said God matched us.
Me: Yes
Micah: Well put out your arm (I do so and he puts his arm next to mine). See your arm is white, right?
Me: Yes
Micah: And my arm is brown, right?
Me: Yes
Micah: So I don't think God is very good at matching.
Me: We may not match in the color of our skin, but God did match our hearts and I am so happy you are my son.
Micah: And I am Happy you are my mom (followed by a big hug and kiss!)

Gotta LOVE that kid!!

My Sticker Chart

Recently we began giving the kids an opportunity to earn an allowance. With this began the creation of their very own Sticker Charts. Being that we have a variety of ages for those able to earn some cash, we also have a wide variety of "chores", some of which are really just behaviors we would like them to improve on. I got to thinking what MY sticker chart may look like if I were to have one. Here are a few I came up with:
Kids Chart - No Time Outs
My Chart - Take a Time Out! Sometimes a break is really needed to refresh and regroup. I have a Really hard time admitting that I need to take some time for myself in order to "behave" better.
Kids Chart - Finish your meal before leaving the table (can you tell we have a 3 year old!)
My Chart - Take time to eat 3 meals a day. I can not tell you the last time I sat down and ate breakfast in the morning. I am "too busy" making lunches, getting kids dressed, brushing said kids teeth, getting shoes and coats on, etc. I REALLY need to make time to at least eat...maybe my morning would go better :)
Kids Chart - Dress yourself in the appropriate clothes for the day
My Chart - Get dressed in something other than jeans and a t-shirt. Since becoming a mom my attire has REALLY suffered. I joke that I try to make sure the kids always look nice because then no one will pay attention to what I look like. I however enjoy looking nice and classy even with being a mommy!

I could go on and on, but you get the point...it appears I need to work on my own improvement a little bit and I intend to do just that :)

BATS

I LOVE hearing about everything Delson is learning at his new school. It is AMAZING what he can all take in when there is not the chaos of 25 kids in the room. Last week he was learning about bats and we had this conversation on the way home from school:
Delson: Mom, did you know that even if you do not like bats you can not kill them? They are God's creation and you do not want to make God cry by killing them.
Me: That is true Delson, we don't want to kill living things (praying in my head, God PLEASE do not let a bat show up in the house as I KNOW I would go postal on that!!)
Delson: Mom, did you know that the bats are running out of caves? Maybe we should build a big cage for the bats so they don't end up gone like dinosaurs!
Me: Ummm, I am not so sure that is a good idea...

Rainbow

Today as Micah and I were riding down the street I had the pleasure to be with him when he saw his first rainbow. I know we have tried to point them out to him before, but he never could really see it until today. Nothing is better than sitting in the car with your 3 year old while they are in total amazement at God's beauty. He even knew that Noah was the first person to see a rainbow (thank you WONDERFUL Sunday school teachers!!) and we could use it as a learning opportunity to talk about God's promises. What a Wonderful

The Joy of Raising Boys

Today the boys were playing outside and I ran in to answer the phone. I went to look something up for someone and was going to head back outside when I hear Micah crying and see a neighbor lady walking toward the house. I run out the garage door and see Micah riding up on his bike balling as Delson yells, "It wasn't me!". Well, the neighbor lady askes me to walk with her to her house (3 houses down) and says that my son was destroying her antique wooden sled. We get there and she shows me the 3 boards that were broke and thrown in her yard. I apologize over and over then ask how we can make this better. She says maybe he can come and rake leaves, I said that would be fine. I then said that he has been really into being a fireman lately and I think that he gets carried away thinking things are real, then I state "I guess that is what happens when you are 3". She says, "3?? Oh no honey, it was the older boy!" The whole time I thought it was Micah because he was crying SO loud and Delson said it was not him when I came out. So....I head home with my new info and have a LONG talk with Delson. He says he does not know why he did it. I have him get his money out of his piggy bank and make a I am sorry card to bring down. He delivers his "gifts" and says he is sorry and will NEVER do it again. We then talk again to get to why and he explains that they were playing fireman and he was pretending it was a car on fire and used a shovel as an axe to get the "people" out of the car. He claims that he didn't think about how it was just pretend and that we can not do that. We had a long talk and had him do some work around the house tonight instead of playing...oh the joys of boys :)